- English translation
Keep your face veiled and stay within your bounds, and you may go where you like.
- Literal wording
Cover your cheek and walk according to your measure.
- Meaning and lesson
Framed with feminine imperatives, the saying tells a woman to keep her face shielded and carry herself within her proper limits, never cheapening herself or overstepping. Here 'measure' means one's due bounds, not bodily stature. The covered cheek stands for guarding dignity and reputation.
The implied bargain is that once these conditions are met, she may go wherever she pleases without anyone having grounds to reproach her. This ideal of feminine modesty reflects a traditional social code, and modern audiences may read its presentation of propriety as the price of freedom as restrictive or prescriptive.
- When it is used
Fits elder-to-younger advice about conduct, especially a woman's behavior in public, where modesty and restraint are said to earn freedom from censure. Because the advice is gendered and reflects a traditional social code, quote it descriptively rather than as neutral guidance.
- Register
- Colloquial Arabic, in a rhymed two-part imperative addressed to a woman
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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